Published 6:48 pm, Friday, May 19, 2017

The complaint is the latest action following a contentious period of negotiations as a part of the board’s effort to switch district employees over to the state’s health insurance plan to plug a multimillion dollar deficit and avoid as many as 75 layoffs district-wide.

In the complaint, filed May 10 by the Norwalk Federation of Teachers, union leaders claim the Norwalk Board of Education and its representatives violated the state Teacher Negotiations Act through public expression of plans to bypass the union in negotiations with its members, use of denigrating and threatening comments to union leaders and making misleading statements to union members.

Mary Yordon, the union’s president, sent out a statement this week saying that the board “made inaccurate public comments intending to mislead and intimidate the union and its members, prompting us to file a prohibited practice complaint.”

Yordon said the public comments in question were made after the union proposed a deal for the health insurance negotiation similar to one struck between the board and the union in 2003, when the union’s contract was extended and the insurance was changed to resolve a budget crisis. However, this time, Yordon said, the board shot the proposal down.

“What we asked for this year was essentially a status quo extension of the contract with raises in line with other towns in the area that have already been negotiated,” Yordon said. “We didn't ask for the moon and stars … just certainty for our members and their families.”

However, district officials said in a statement released Friday afternoon that the union’s proposal was not one they could accept “in good conscience.” They said the union asked for an “unprecedented increase” in the length of its current contract — from three to five years — with built-in pay raises in excess of 3 percent per year.

“The NFT’s proposal to extend the term of the current three-year contract may have been agreed to once in the past, but circumstances are considerably different now than they were 14 years ago,” the district’s statement says. “Enrollment is increasing, costs are skyrocketing, and Norwalk taxpayers have a lot to shoulder. It would be irresponsible for this Board to extend the contract, and its associated costs and increases, into a five-year agreement. Caution is especially warranted in light of the current state budget crisis, which may impact funding for Norwalk.”

Negotiations with the union came as the Board of Education is attempting to switch all of its employees over to the Connecticut Partnership Plan 2.0 — the state’s collective health insurance plan — in an effort to plug a $6.65 million deficit that officials said the district would face if it stayed on its current self-insured program, given the city’s recently approved operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The deficit, officials say, is the result of a spike in anticipated health insurance claim costs that was identified in the first several months of this school year in combination with a one-time reduction made to the district’s insurance fund — after a surplus in the fund built up in prior years — which was transferred to cover the Special Education Development Fund for the 2017-18 school year.

Luckily, officials said health insurance claims within the last several months have slowed, shrinking the anticipated $8.6 million deficit by nearly $2 million, but still leaving that $6.65 million hole.

District officials said they would need to fire roughly 75 employees to offset the deficit if they aren’t able to switch to the new health insurance plan.

Board of Education Chairman Mike Lyons announced publicly last month that he would be asking district officials to move forward with layoffs after the teachers union leadership rejected the move over to the new plan.

District officials said May 10 that they were still holding out hope for a successful switch of its employees over to the state’s cumulative employee health insurance plan

The complaint was then filed with the State Board of Labor Relations, which protects the rights of public and some private employees to form, join or assist labor organizations. It also protects the right of employees and employers to bargain collectively.

Now that the teachers union’s complaint has been filed, members of the Board of Labor Relations will attempt to mediate settlements. If that’s not successful and the board determines the case should move forward, they will conduct a hearing. In some cases, the complaint is dismissed, and in other cases a determination is made in favor of one of the parties.

District officials remained hopeful in moving forward with the switch to the new healthcare plan.

“Norwalk Public Schools has been working productively with all of the district’s bargaining units on this topic. Just as other unions in both the city and the school system have agreed to move into the CT Partnership Plan, we remain hopeful that members of the NFT will choose to come on board as well,” the district’s statement says.

Meanwhile, Yordon said the union will continue to be willing to negotiate in the best interests of the students and the city.

“However,” she said in her statement, “to give up a benefit in exchange for nothing simply isn't logical. We're not the city's personal ATM machine.”